What a difference a year makes…

It really does not feel like it’s almost a year since we held the last World Public Relations Forum in Melbourne, Australia. And in just a year’s time we will be meeting again for the next WPRF in Madrid, Spain on 21 – 23 September 2014, book the date in your diary now!

Melbourne saw the launch of the Global Alliance’s Melbourne Mandate and it has sparked healthy debate around the world. The three themes of the Mandate are that public relations has a role in helping to define and maintain organisational character and values, that it is key to developing a culture of listening and engagement and that it should rise to the challenge of instilling responsible behaviours by individuals and organisations. All this implies that public relations and communication management professionals have an opening to take on a leadership role in their organisations and this requires that they be deeply thoughtful and reflective, not only about their own work, but about the purpose and activities of their organisations as a whole.

This is a great starting point for our next WPRF in Madrid. The title of the Forum is Communication with Conscience. As it implies there is an ethical dimension, but there is much more to consider here. In the communication empowered world in which we live, we have to be conscious of the fact that everything we do as individuals and organisations communicates. We have to consciously consider and re-consider what ‘communication’ actually means when there is so much of it; we need to ask questions about how we can listen properly and actually hear what people are saying when there is so much noise; we should be concerned that we hear the ‘small’ voices who may have important things to tell us; we certainly need to learn new things about how to ensure that we are understood. If we are concerned with organisational character we should think through what it really means to be the conscience of our organisations. Lots of question…so much to talk about.

So, the great privilege we will have in Madrid 2014 is to hear from some exceptional speakers on how they are thinking and acting in this new world and to join some inspiring workshops and discussions on the opportunities and issues that face us. We will explore our challenges as practitioners, as representative of our profession, in the work we do for our employers and we’ll take a wider look at the positive contribution we can make to society because of our unique skills and knowledge. I look forward to some energising conversations in one of Europe’s most beautiful and stimulating capitals!